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Power of the Dragonflame (album)
Power of the Dragonflame is the fifth full-studio album of Rhapsody of Fire, released in '02. Many consider it to be their fourth album, reasoning that they consider the preceding release, Rain Of A Thousand Flames to be an EP, despite being listed as a full length album on the website. Power of the Dragonflame is the concluding part of the Emerald Sword saga's final chapter, being preceded by Rain Of A Thousand Flames. Plotline Algalord Chronicles part IV The black clouds were darkening the middle lands when the warrior of ice reached the mystical place known as the forest of unicorns. Blood covered his hands while the whispers of the friendly majestic trees tried to calm the fullness of his last visions... Arwald and Airin's brutal deaths were still torturing his brave heart and only the will for revenge was carved in the wounds of his raped soul... The knowledge that the magical emerald sword was now in the hands of Akron was also tormenting his burning thoughts... at the limit of his physical and mental condition he finally reached green Elgard where the people received him as a true hero... Aresius had to use all his magic to cure the shocked mind of the chosen one. But soon a incredible new tragedy occurred, enough to destroy the mental stability of anyone... what neither he nor Aresius had dared to imagine came to pass... what had seemed to be just an ancient legend spun by the fantasy of a jester, turned into unexpected, dramatic reality... Thanks to the magic power of the emerald sword applied to Vankar's black magic secrets, the mystic portals of chaos separating the world of the humans from the one of the damned had finally been opened... after some evil rites in the crypts of the ghostland the queen of the dark horizons, that godforsaken bitch and ancient servant of the cruel god Kron, was alive once again and ready to lead the army of the living dead, freed from the ancient spell, under the Akron's command. The first result of this demonic plan was the tragic battle that destroyed the kings' mighty woodships on the wild ocean... without defense the two sister towns of our beloved lands were destroyed after three moons of apocalyptic bloodshed under a rain of a thousand flames. Elnor and Thorald now lay in ruins...the king died proudly fighting the demons and the bloody giant waves... the echoes of death still fill the unbreathable air carving the rocks and the shores of the southern lands... The warrior of ice, hearing this news, screamed his rage from the depth of his pure soul and even the elves and trolls of the grey mountains could hear the echoes of his fury.... but he would soon have the chance to call the spirits of vengeance 'cause after two moons the grand council of Algalord decided to call the bravest fighters of the southern lands and to give the command of this improvised army to the chosen one... Akron, the evil queen, the shadowlord Dargor and the demonic army were now marching in the direction of the town of the gods, annihilating everything and every human being who offered resistance to their raging passage... So a terrible fear was now threatening the proud Algalord and something had to be done as soon as possible... an eventual fall of the holy citadel would have meant the end of everything and the beginning of a new age for the enchanted lands under the dominion of King Chaos, mighty bringer of the cosmic oblivion... he had to be stopped...! In Tenebris ~ Knightrider of Doom ~ Power of the Dragonflame ~ The March of the Swordmaster ~ When Demons Awake The march of the swordmasters soon began... and after only three moons the glorious army led by the nordic warrior faced the soldiers of Akron and Dargor between the marshes of the southern regions... the wolves howled at the moon as the first clash of swords resounded through the depth of the night. That dramatic battle will surely be remembered as one of the most tragic pages in the history of the enchanted lands! The valorous warriors of our wonderful valleys found themselves even forced to challenge their mental sanity, not knowing what kind of enemy they would be facing ... but Aresius had warned them that they should be prepared for anything... and never had there been better advice ... winged demons, giant worms, the living dead and vampires formed the biggest part of that evil mass of creatures that crossed the portal of chaos thanks to the power of the emerald sword and that were now serving the insane will of Akron... every fighter of the beloved lands immediately understood the difficulty of their goal ... but the call of the cosmic perspective blocked any emotive fragility ‐ on the contrary, this only enflamed their adrenalinic will for revenge for all their brothers who had been so brutally tortured and killed. Agony is my Name In the bloodbath of the fight, between mutilated limbs and terrific visions of sufferance, the warrior of ice was able to reach and face the shadowlord of the black mountain in a final battle... The evil one, after a bloody epic clash, fell from a rock and became trapped, with no chance of escape... Dargor was close to death, he knew it... he screamed, begging the mighty warrior of ice to strike and kill him... but the chosen one, in a terrible quandary between his heart and his mind, reached out his hand, thus sparing his life, knowing that he was just the result of the wrong teachings of Vankar, the old wizard of Helm, eternal enemy of Aresius. Dargor didn't understand this act of the warrior of ice and didn't realise his intentions... Vankar had always told him an untrue story about how the warrior of ice and his army had massacred all his family... and he grew up believing it .... so with the next strike of his sword he hit the chosen one who, not expecting this reaction, fell to the ground losing his senses and shedding a river of holy blood... he spoke only with his eyes... looking at Dargor and asking why... why... When our hero regained consciousness, trapped once again like thousands of other soldiers, he understood everything was finished for him and for all... After Elnor and Thorald, the last important resistance had been destroyed and for Algalord now it would have been surely the end... ah no... nobody could have imagined the destructive power of the emerald sword in the wrong hands, nor could our warrior. It was time for Algalord to pray to the steelgods because the fury of the warmaster Kron lived in the black king more than ever... beware, holy town, beware...! Lamento Eroico ~ Steelgods of the Last Apocalypse ~ The Pride of the Tyrant After two moons the fall of Algalord was a reality... the gates of the town were forced open and Akron marched through it showing his worst intentions... Most of the women and children were tortured and massacred in the name of his hellish perversion... 'destruction' was Akron's order to his disciples and soon Algalord, the glorious Algalord, the holy town of the enchanted lands, was a mass of blood and stone... In that moment everybody, even the warrior of ice, now trapped and constrained to endure everything, was asking themselves whether it was still possible to do something for the beloved lands or whether the dominion of Kron's disciples would soon be reality in the name of cosmic oblivion! The next challenge would be clear to all... Gargoyles, Angels of Darkness : i. Angeli di Pietra Mistica ~ ii. Warlords' Last Challenge ~ iii. ...and the Legend ends... THE WIZARD'S LAST RHYMES... "Hello to everyone once again, my friends... and sorry if I am unable to tell you about everything that has happened recently without shedding a tear... but there are no words to describe the pain lacerating my heart once again! Yes, everything happened as you have probably already understood... after the siege of Algalord and we were all made prisoners, the rituals of bloody depravation began once more... The tragedy was a sad reality, as the magic book of the prophecies revealed to us many ages ago... but the next pages told of a thunder breaking the deadly silence... and of lightning bolts of pure energy hurtling through the ancient skies by the gods of wisdom... and that would be the miracle which would change the events... And my dears... you are probably anxious to know if something happened or not... eh? Well... this is the last incredible chapter of this epic tale... and I can tell you that the end of the events was reserved for an unexpected, legendary, great and bitter finale... so... yes... something miraculous soon happened... but in the shadow of a dark tragedy...! After the fall of the holy town of the gods, my brother, the mighty warrior of ice, was also condemned to endure the bloody games that Akron used to frighten the people in order to impose his supremacy... the chosen one had always been the legendary enemy and now the chance of torturing his body was exciting Akron's deepest perversions... And so he vented his dark rage on the warrior of ice mutilating both of his legs... yes, my friends... this was hell, believe me...! ...but when our hero, still alive, was about to be executed and then thrown in the marshes of Acheros, condemned to be devoured by the viscid watersnakes, the miracle happened and the thunder of the prophecy had an unexpected name: Dargor! Nobody could believe what was about to happen... Tired of these bloody visions, no longer accepting the cruelty of his darklord and still confused by the fact that the chosen one had spared his life, Dargor raised his steel to the sky mortally wounding the queen of the dead, hatefully screaming the name of Akron and invoking the power of the gargoyles... the black king, furious as never before, turned to the shadowlord and immediately understood his intentions... one sign from his hand and a demonwarrior threw his sword hitting Dargor's shoulder, throwing him to the ground... Akron, laughing in his face, revealed to him that he had been expecting his betrayal because he did not have the same black blood running through his veins, and that now he would die in the same way as the others, impaled in front of the gates of the now conquered Algalord as an example for all... cont.His demons moved towards the wounded Dargor, to imprison him, when the energy of the thunder gave him the force to throw himself against Akron, pushing him and making him fall close to where the warrior of ice, mutilated and dying was lying in a lake of blood. At that moment the chosen one managed to steal the emerald sword from the armour of the black king and to strike his face with it... even the demons of the deepest hell must have heard Akron's scream when the blade of the holy sword pierced his right eye... but this was not enough to kill the king of the darkness ... and so the warrior of ice wrapped his arms around Akron's neck, choking him...and at that moment the chosen one screamed to Dargor to move the wooden execution platform to the marshes. The shadowlord of the black mountains saw that this was the only way to solve the situation radically and immediately jumped onto the steel lever operating the evil mechanism... and the platform on which the warrior of ice and Akron were lying began to slide down towards the black waters of those dark marshes which stunk of death. The chosen one, keeping his choking hold still in place with all his might with the help of the emerald sword and with the black king trying to free himself, cried his thanks to Dargor for repaying the favour of the past, despite his inability of helping the hero of the northern lands, who was now destined to certain death... But that was how the prophecy was written and the warrior of ice finally slipped into the viscid waters... and Akron with him, the emerald sword not allowing him to react... From that moment on the two bodies and the mighty holy sword disappeared into the depths of the marsh and when the hungry black snakes came for their meal everybody knew that it was finished... yes... it was really finished for our mutual friend... thanks to the warrior of ice and Dargor's betrayal, the nightmare in person, known as Akron was suddenly just a bad memory of the past... And that moment also miraculously meant the end for the demons' evil army... Vankar had revealed to Dargor the power of the gargoyles... but the evil wizard could never have imagined that his disciple would use it to face his own hell... but that was what happened! The majestic gargoyles of stone became alive and flew from the far towers of Hargor to clash against the demons of the abyss... and also at that moment the astonished warriors of the enchanted lands understood that the prophecy of the ancients was finally being realized... oh, god... at the mighty call of the steelgods of the last apocalypse they raised their weapons once again, taking advantage of the new situation... from defeated prisoners they became the materialized cosmic fury of the titans and before the new moon, the victory was a reality... and this time, it was total victory against the hordes of hell... yes, brothers... the great final victory... magic lightning suddenly crashed into the earth, a terrific quake made the ground tremble... the victorious brothers' gargoyles, the angels of mystic stone, spread their wings and, with their long limbs, they took the rest of the demons and the creatures lying on the dusty ground... the portals of chaos located between the crypts of the ghostlands were their destination... the souls of the damned reached their old dimension somewhere far beyond and the gargoyles, thanks to a great act of positive magic, were able to close them, again becoming mighty guardian angels... they would keep the passage and not allow anyone to open the gates again... that was really the conclusion of a nightmare that seemed to have no end... but finally and luckily for us all the word "end" began to have a meaning once again... Well, my friends... I used all my magic to fight those bastards... even Vankar was a victim of my white magic... and now after some time spent in recouperating to some extent my mental sanity and having to accept the death of my brother I can finally smile under the sun that lights up my wonderful Elgard... He's not with us any more... my valorous friend, the hero of the northern lands, is gone... but his sacrifice was exemplary and will be remembered in the next ages by all, as a testament of love for these lands... And Dargor's act of wisdom ... also he will be remembered as a great man... when the dark meets the light, to create the twilight... everything is possible and most of the time... the shadows can hold magic! After the last battle he disappeared... nobody saw him again... is he still there ?? Anyway thanks once again, wherever you are, mighty shadowlord of the black mountains! The reconstruction of Algalord, the noble town of the enchanted lands, will begin during the next moons... and this time the gargoyle will be the new symbol of the town, to witness what I was telling you before about the tones of sunshine... In the meantime my brothers are hailing the gods of wisdom before rivers of red wine and from the south to the north the name of Dargor and the chosen one are on the lips of all... So my friend... with these last lines I wrote the last page of this book... the saga of the emerald sword can now be considered ended... one book of a million books telling about the cosmic fight between good and evil... written again with the blood of heroes... for a cosmic perspective that will soon reveal itself... in one amongst a thousand realities...! Hail to you all...!" Aresius of Elgard Rhapsody The Story so far... - Track listing - Personnel Guest-personnel Crediting - Japanese casing Back - Japanese casing's cover tab Front - Spine - Back - Japanese casing's cover tab (translations) Front Spine Back Externals :- http://metal-monolith.awardspace.co.uk/pages/lyrics/r/rhapsody/rh_chron4.html References :「エメラルド・ソード・サーガ」シリーズの最終章の後編。前作『レイン・オブ・ア・サウザンド・フレイムス』と合わせて一つの作品となっている。 - (The concluding part of the "Emerald Sword Saga" series' final chapter. It becomes one single work in conjuction with the preceding work, "Rain of A Thousand Flames".) Trivia :*- is featured on the cover.